Span

Frame the truss, predict every beam's stress, and trust it to carry the weight.

How to play

Connect nodes with beams to span the gap while staying within budget. Before testing, tag each member as being in tension or compression, then drop the load and watch whether your bridge — and your predictions — stand up.

• Click two nodes to add a beam; click a beam to remove it
• Build a stable truss without overspending your budget
• Tag each member's predicted stress: tension, compression or none
• Run the load test and score on a holding bridge plus correct calls

Game modes

• Short or Medium spans for difficulty
• Daily puzzle or Practice for fresh layouts

Controls

• Desktop: click nodes to add beams and click beams to remove them or cycle their predicted stress
• Phone & tablet: tap nodes and beams the same way

Tips & strategy

• Triangles are rigid — triangulate rather than building long, floppy spans
• Top chords usually compress and bottom chords usually stretch under a downward load
• Spend on the members carrying the most force; trim beams that do nothing

What you'll learn

Span is a truss-bridge engineering puzzle about how structures carry load, where every beam choice trades strength against a budget.

• Skills: structural engineering, forces in trusses, tension and compression, design under constraints
• Best for: roughly grades 6–12 (ages 11+)
• For parents & teachers: engineering trade-offs made tangible through building and testing.

About Span

Span is a truss-bridge engineering puzzle about structures, stress and budgets. It's an original, free browser game built in-house for PlayPendium.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium — no download, no install. Browse all games →